Alternate Modes of Transportation

Day 7 – Yellowstone National Park, WY

A very tranquil Yellowstone Lake at sunrise.  We would
kayak here later in the day under much different conditions.

We woke up this morning to a very unpleasant surprise; it gets really freaking cold here at night. When I checked the weather, it said a low of 40. When I woke up, there was an icicle (tiny one, but still) on the tree by our tent. So it got below 32. We’re from Wisconsin and should be used to it, but that was cold. Our sleeping bags are great at keeping us warn, but that doesn’t help when you need to get up an moving.

We finally braved the cold and got moving so we could get to horseback riding on time. By the time we were ready to ride, it had already warmed up considerably. Amy and I were shown to our horses and we set out. I had an Appaloosa named Poker Joe and Amy had a horse named Rob (not sure what type it was; according to Amy it was a “pretty brown horse”). Rob had gas. I was behind him the whole two hour ride and he was ripping them the whole time. Luckily, between the horses and the dust, my allergies were so bad I could not smell a thing. The little girl behind we was not so lucky.

Our guides Luke and Derek took us through the Canyon area of Yellowstone (Eastern side in the middle). We travelled through the pine forests and some of the open fields. We also got right up next to an edge of the canyon known as Coyote Slide. I think the highlight was when a few wranglers had to come out to chase a bull bison off of the trail. Besides that, it was your typical touristy horse ride. Lots of stopping for people who weren’t very good at controlling their horses. Luckily, Joe and Rob were good listeners, so we did alright.

On the ride, one of our guides told us that the hike to the top of Mount Washburn was only .5 miles each way if you started from the top parking lot. He also told us it was the highest peak in the park. Neither of these turned out to be true. But since we had time before kayaking, we decided to give it a try. We hiked for about a mile and, as we were still nowhere near the top, realized that it was not the ½ mile hike as advertised. Turns out it is actually 2.5 miles each way – minor detail. So since we were pressed for time, we decided to head back, never making it to the highest point (which is actually the 3^rd highest).

Amy getting geared up for our kayaking trip on Yellowstone Lake.

We made the trek back towards our campground where we would meet up with our kayaking tour. As we did this, the skies darkened and rain popped up on the radar. But we got geared up and ready to go. Since Yellowstone Lake is at such a high altitude, the water is freezing. It has recently “warmed up” into the 40’s. Despite the 70 degree temperatures, Amy and I donned our very non-breathable rain ponchos (Amy went for full rain gear with pants and all) to protect from the splashing water.

Paddling towards the geysers under threatening skies.

Our guides on the trip were Leah, Megan, and April. The led us along the shore of the lake explain in the parks history, what formed all of the cool geological features, and the important role fire plays on the ecosystem. For example, the Lodge Pole Pine can only release its seed if the temperature rises above 140° F. When this happens, a coating around the seed melts and it is able to be pollinated. We saw hills where every tree had burned down during the 1988 fire and how the new growth was starting to take hold. They also took us up alongside dormant geysers and other, not dormant “bubbling spots.”

Some of the history they told us was also very interesting. Apparently, back in the day, Yellowstone was only a vacation spot for the supper rich. A grand tour of Yellowstone would cost $50,000 in today’s money. As part of this, they would take the men fishing on Yellowstone Lake for the Cutthroat Trout. Once the fish were caught, they would go over to a geyser and cook the fish, in essence steaming it. This practice stopped when one guest was killed when the geyser he was cooking his fish in erupted. They also found that the water had high levels of arsenic and other toxic substances. In fact, they have found that the bison in the park live, on average, 5 years less than bison that do not. This is due to these toxic substances appearing in all the grass they eat.

Here comes the rain!

We were enjoying our kayaking trip, but the bad weather continued to approach and when the wind shifted, we knew we were gonna get hit. We began a frantic paddle back to the launch, but we were quite a ways away. Soon we were confronted by a freezing rain, strong headwinds, and increasing choppy water. The paddle back was not fun.

We made it back just as the rain let up, but the radar showed more on the way. We got cleaned up and decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner since cooking wasn’t going to happen in the rain. After dinner, we took a short drive before deciding to call it a night…at 8:00.

Tomorrow, biking and a trip into Cody for the Nite (that's how they spell it) Rodeo.